Giving Thanks

This is the first Thanksgiving I've gone home in the past 4 years and it was a bit more hectic than expected. My mom's been asking me to drive her everywhere every time I come since I've started driving.. and it's not like I can say no! All I really wanted to do this break was sit in a coffee shop and catch up on all the work that's piled up but probably only spent 4 hours at Starbucks. What a waste too cause I found out that the Laurel Village Starbucks is open 24 hours!

Thanksgiving Day: Woke up early to run the Turkey Trail Trot with Jim! Our goal was to finish the 5 miles in under 1 hour. I practically drank an entire bottle of water before the race and didn't think to use the bathroom BEFORE the race.. so we stopped at the bathrooms about 1/2 mi into the race. Still managed to finish in 56.11 minutes! Race results:

483 127/175  LISA ZHAO    21 F SAN FRANCISCO     56:11 11:15
484  61/73   JIM LUI      21 M SAN FRANCISCO     56:11 11:15

Out of 676. Important thing is we beat our goal!!
Then we got the camera to take a photo with the happy turkey.
(Thanks Jim for the pic)

Afterward we picked up Liz and tried out this new Pho place where the lady spoke CHINESE to us the entire time! That's never happened to me before... most people would just assume that 3 young Asians are too Americanized to know any Chinese. Spent the rest of the afternoon with family and saw my paternal grandparents who we haven't seen in 6 years. Needless to say, awkward family social.

Other highlights from the weekend:
- watching BOLT in 3D!! Hilarious movie and definitely worth watching, not sure what the fuss was about crying though... C'mon guys, it's a DISNEY movie!

- discovering a local ice cream shop called "Bi-Rite Creamery" next to Dolores Park. Made with organic materials and served in compost-able cups, and they provide the green bin!! Awesome flavors and a friendly staff too with an absolutely cute sitting area with benches surrounding a tree w/ the perfect lighting! we had to wait in line for about 20 mins or so but that's gotta say something about the place yea? Thanks Brandon for finding the place =)

- my sister's 6 month old half poodle/half jack russell terrier named Ellie. She's sooo hyper active, friendly, and cute! I love taking her on walks. When she's really tired at night I go to pet her and she'll roll right over for me to scratch her tummy instead.

- i was too lazy wake up early for black friday this year and plus i didn't have anything to buy. hit up target in the afternoon for $70 worth of dvds! I can't wait for THE OFFICE marathon during winter break!!! YAY!

- made it back in time from home to watch UCLA vs. Florida International in basketball. sooo glad I got to see Spencer Soo, 5'8" half asian guard make the 3 point shot at the buzzer! GO SPENCER SOO!

- tried furaibo for the first time and it's delicious, especially the soft shelled crab. finally got to sake bomb w/ gary, something we've been talking about for months now! i'll be the dd next time guys, i think it's my turn to walk someone home for once.

- i just installed gchat's video chat app. pretty awesome!! now i won't have to wait months to see people!


That's about the jist of my break. Hope everyone else had a great time. Time to start studying for finals!

Backstreet's back ALRIGHT!

OMGGGGGGGGGGGG, still on a high from the BACKSTREET BOYS concert tonight!!! YES people, they are alive and well and better than ever!!!!

Julia friends got there at 12 and kept spots for us until we arrived at 330, then we all suffered in line together in the cold until they let us in around 7ish. It was hilarious watching the front of the line run into the venue like it was going to fill up anytime soon. Once inside, it was like a mosh pit... general admission= no seating, standing room only = lots of pushing and shoving and having no care for the others around you. The most annoying were the girls who brought their boyfriends, who OBVIOUSLY did NOT enjoy the concert and they were the ones getting pissy and yelling the entire time. One fellow was putting a guard up around his gf the entire time and stared down anyone that got remotely close to pushing... kinda like how Yoshi was at Vegas! Tonight was the only time I wished to be Julia's size so I could squeeze my way through to the way front, even though I was pretty close.

We found out before the concert that Nick had the flu and could barely sing or dance last night. I was watching him the entire time and thought he held up well.. what a trooper!! My favorite is still AJ though <3. OOOh they all have tattoos on their arms now, some sleeves, some growing sleeves, nonetheless, ALL HOT. Also hot: when they sang "lollipop" by lil wayne and rolled their bodies.

Best part of the night.. when Kevin came out to "Shape of my heart" encore!!!!! Everyone went crazy. And then at the very end, Nick took off his shirt and I watched as it was flying right toward me... landing RIGHT BEHIND me. First I decided that i had no chance in getting then, then thought, WHAT THE HECK, and started pulling for it just so I could at least say I had a hand on it. The 3 most annoying guys around me protecting their girlfriends were the last ones fighting for it and eventually the gangster got it.

Just to mention: there was a crazy racist hick family behind us the first half, who was talking shit about everyone and kept threatening that they could take down anyone and pushing their bellies into the curve of our backs! NOTE: If you are ever to get in a fight, over something so trivial, then at least pick someone who is your gender and size!!! Crazy people!

K, now time to start my paper due tomorrow.

Half + Tri = ?

Always inspired to blog when I have writer's block for writing papers... ironic isn't it. It's true.. I have one due tomorrow and no where near done. I was gonna go running to refresh my mind but I forgot to turn off my ipod when I got home... just waiting for it to recharge now.

I talked Marcus into training for a sprint triathlon with me and he's gone psycho in recording workouts, recruiting others, and buying all this high tech gear. If anyone is interested in reading our individual group workouts here's the link- http://dbtriathletes.wordpress.com/

Brent and I finally started running together to train for our Half. We ran 4 straight miles yesterday at a relatively constant speed, 16 laps around the effing track.. and while it's not a big deal for some people, that was way out of my comfort zone. At mile 3 my mind wasn't thinking anymore, my body was just moving on its own, and all i did was focus on one point to keep going. It's really nice having a running partner to push you on when you don't think you can go any harder or faster and it helps you to go the distance you didn't think you could do, for me at least.

People think I'm crazy for doing a Half and Tri around the same time... and others have asked why not just do the marathon? Honestly, I don't think I could mentally handle 26.2 miles... I tend to get really bored when running and I enjoy more intense workouts than endurance. But of course... one must have the endurance to do well in sprints right? This Half is a challenge for my mental game plan as well as a way to get in shape physically which will prepare me for the tri.

Some goals I have planned so far in preparation-
- Looking for random runs to do before Feb 1 for practice, already signed up for the turkey trot on thanksgiving (5 miles).
- Learn how to flip turn!! Gonna ask Liz to help me boost my swimming skills since she's the one who taught me how to swim.
- Riding down to Santa Monica and back, it's roughly 12 miles there and back.
- Riding around SF during winter break. Lots of hills to practice with!

All this running training doesn't mean that I'm gonna shaft paddling. Skipped last week of practice and I'm already itching to paddle this weekend!! It's gonna be a busy weekend...

RYAN STARTED THE FIRE!

Storytime-- I tried to create a relaxing study environment by lighting a candle on my desk. Wada walks in 5 mins later sniffing the room wondering what that smell was. First I thought it was the pasta I was eating, or the sweet aroma coming from my candle. We turned around and there it was --a freaking ball of fire on my desk and a second later the fire alarm went off! My first instinct was to blow it out.. like birthday candles, but no that didn't work. Grabbed my burning paper and opened all the doors while Wada drenched a corner of my desk with water.... Gah, so much for relaxing.

To properly enjoy my last year of college I headed to Vegas for the weekend instead of working on the 3 papers I have due this week!! Paying the consequences now, but it was totally worth it.

I was pretty set on spending the summer in Hawaii to finish my upper div units until I had a chat with Will Wu, who pointed out that Hawaii indeed is not considered ABROAD. Since then I've been looking for somewhere outside of the US and Europe and today was my lucky day!! UCLA Travel Study is offering a new archaeology program in different locations throughout the world and it's hands-on excavation work and all! I'm planning to talk to my archaeology profs to get some info about the places before I choose one.

So I found this awesome program during class and headed to my counselor right after to see if it would count for anything. It turns out she passed away a few weeks ago and the anthro dept decided not to tell any of the students!!! WTH! You'd think they would have some courtesy to update her students about her health! RIP Selma...

The End.

home sweet home?

Has anyone noticed that the chorus of Neyo's "Miss Independent" sounds like part of Kanye's "Flashing Lights"... or maybe it's just me....?

Spent a good portion of my "free day" studying at Peet's with Brandon and got more done than I ever would've at school. I didn't realize how many cafes there are in SF, or in the Richmond at least, until we were walking down about six blocks and saw one on every block. The nice thing is none of them were overcrowded like they would be in Westwood! I guess the good thing about SF, compared to LA, is that everything is compacted and convenient to get to and there are more family owned businesses.. although I don't know how much longer those will be able to stay in business. Oh and as much as I hate the cold, I'm also enjoying the cool crispy FRESH air this city offers.

So Justin, if you find a place and need a roommate next year I'll seriously considering coming home. I'm still indecisive about where I want to be in a year.

TIme to start training

DAMN YOU WHOEVER GOT ME SICK THE WEEK OF RACE!!!!!! Felt so miserable all day with the sneezing and runny nose and now my nose is super raw. Lost track of how many "bless you"s I've heard today already.

It's official! I signed up for the Huntington Beach Surf City Half Marathon. My goal for mine is to keep at least a 10 minute mile pace. When registering, they ask for a unique running fact about yourself. Mine was... I've never run more than 4 miles, ever. Yea, it'll be quite a challenge but I have a few months to train and it should be more fun if I have others to train with. (Brent, you better sign up now before you change your mind and bail on me.) I was also looking into other runs to practice with, 10K-12K around December and January. Who knew registration fees cost so much just to run....

Can't wait to go home tomorrow, but not looking forward to packing. I'm thinking this parka is gonna take up at least half my duffel...

Thanks to all who came out to support UCLA Dragon boat tonight, even those of you didn't, I knew you wanted to.

A New Run

Electoral Votes so far: 175:76, GO OBAMA. This post has nothing to do with the election btw, I'm sure you've all heard enough about it all day. I'm just excited the lead.

Last night was the first time I jumped on a treadmill. I've always avoided them because I was afraid of falling off and it just doesn't compare to running outside. Buttt with the chilly weather and upcoming rainy season I figure working out inside wouldn't be such a bad idea. I was impressed with all the technical details this machine gave me - the exact mileage, average speed, and avg mile time I was running. However, it's unlikely that these figures would translate into the same results when running outside though since it doesn't take into account weather conditions. It's still pretty good training because it kept me going at a constant speed for two miles -- something I probably couldn't do on the track. The weirdest feeling was walking around after I got off, it felt the like world was coming at me.

Super excited to race this weekend even if it'll be raining and we'll have no shelter because we're too poor to buy a new roof for our tent. Please support by going out to Acapulco's tomorrow night. Our team gets 25% of the proceeds!

Ok, one thing about the election: I finally read through all the props before going out to vote. I already thought Prop 8 was ridiculous, but i COULD NOT believe prop 4 wanted to prohibit abortions for minors until parents were informed. Whatever happened to patient confidentiality!??!!